The Origins of the European Coalition for Vision: Exploring the Formation of a Network

Despite growing interest in EU-level transnational networks, there is little understanding about how these form. This article investigates the formation of one network—the European Coalition for Vision (ECV). Using document analysis of 100 email exchanges, 12 semi-structured interviews, and observation of 5 ECV meetings, it identifies environmental and organizational triggers, most important to the creation of the ECV. Findings show that while environmental triggers played a role in ECV formation, organizational triggers were crucial. In particular, the presence of network leaders, a network entrepreneur and a network mentor were vital for the successful creation of the network.     

略论推进农村信息网络建设的现实意义和方式

信息滞后所形成的城乡之间的"数字鸿沟",是我国最大的城乡差距之一.大力推进农村信息网络建设,可在短期内缩小和消除城乡之间的差别,是当前深化改革和加快发展的现实需要.推进农村信息网络建设,提高互联网普及率,并整合涉农信息资源,构建信息化的各类应用平台,推进面向"三农"的信息化服务,有利于提高农民群众的文化素质、生活素质和劳动生产技能,将对建设社会主义新农村,促进城乡一体化发展,推动农村经济发展和社会进步产生巨大的积极影响.     

论网络“人肉搜索”在侦查工作中的运用

网络人肉搜索是在现代信息科技手段的辅助下,人工参与并提纯信息的一种新兴信息获取方式。实践证明,人肉搜索强大的搜索能力有助于侦查部门查明犯罪嫌疑人身份、锁定犯罪嫌疑人位置、扩大破案线索、查明尸源。人肉搜索在侦查中的运用,是网络时代侦查破案的新途径,是侦查工作群众路线的新形式。在侦查工作中,人肉搜索的运用应当作为一种最后手段,在运用的范围、条件和程序上进行严格控制,在运用方法上要科学合理,兴其利而除其弊,合法地为侦查破案服务。     

NGO networks in Central Asia and global civil society: potentials and limitations

Based on research carried out by INTRAC (International NGO Training & Research Centre) in 2006–2007 in four countries of Central Asia for Oxfam–Novib, the article investigates NGO networks and their international links in the context of current theory on civil society and global civil society. Three case studies of NGOs working in service delivery, community development and free media are examined to show the diversity of aims and the potential and challenges of networking in the region. Civil society advocacy at national and international levels is analysed with a fourth case study on the campaign conducted in Kyrgyzstan against joining the World Bank's Highly Indebted Poor Countries programme. This example shows a more radical, alternative mode of civil society activism. The article emphasizes the importance of national- and regional-level networking and poses the question of whether NGOs in Central Asia can shift from their current positions on the periphery of global movements and debates.     

Transatlantic Institutions: Can Partnership be Engineered?

The transatlantic alliance is widely viewed as being in a state of decline. Conflict over the war in Iraq highlighted a growing divergence between the Bush administration and European Union governments in their attitudes towards multilateralism. The rift severely tested institutions created to manage bilateral EU–US relations in the aftermath of the cold war. This article examines how well this institutional architecture has held up. It scrutinises the limitations of networked governance in transatlantic relations and acknowledges the quandary of trying to manufacture partnership using imperfect institutions. The Brussels–Washington channel is only one among many through which transatlantic relations flow, but we argue that it continues to gain in importance. Despite the limits of institutional engineering, we conclude that the US and the EU remain each other's most important ally.     

网络问政的政府回应逻辑：公开承诺压力与选择性回应——基于66个政府网站领导信箱的实验设计

立足我国制度环境与行政体制,建构了网络问政领导信箱回应运行理论框架,提出影响回应绩效五个影响因素,包括行政系统区域特点与领导者特质两个内部因素,外部因素包括政治压力、舆论压力及诉求压力三个维度。采用德尔菲法建构了领导信箱回应绩效指标体系,并采用实验设计搜集66个领导信箱网络问政回应的有效样本。实证结果显示：政治压力中的公开承诺程度对回应绩效有正向效应,诉求压力中的诉求类别对回应绩效有显著影响,政府回应存在“选择性回应”问题。为了进一步提升政府网站领导信箱的回应绩效,可以完善内部回应流程、公开对外服务承诺与建立自下而上回应性问责机制。     

Accountability in Public Management Networks: An Analysis of Cost Monitoring in Chicago Municipal Networks

Public management networks (PMNs) continue to proliferate as governance becomes more complex, and so does the need to hold them accountable. Agency and collaboration theories provide a solid foundation, but additional constructs are necessary to adapt to this dynamic era. Building from Bovens et al. (2008), the authors offer an ecological framework of third-party accountability that incorporates a number of prominent accountability theories under the same construct. Employing a mixed-methods research design that examines eight local PMNs in the Chicago region, the study finds that an exemplar accountability mechanism—additional cost monitoring—occurs more often in situations predicted by the framework. Additionally, qualitative interviews of network participants suggest that cost structures can differ by network type, which is verified quantitatively.     

族群战争的爆发：一个广义理论

基于两个分析性的创新：对社会事实秉持以机制为基础的理解路径和对动态交互影响的强调,作者提出了一个有关族群战争爆发的广义理论,并利用两种元机制——安全困境/螺旋模型和群体间–群体内互动——作为“元综合器”,将战争的影响因素与冲突行为的直接驱动力联系起来,对散布在现有文献中的众多因素和机制加以综合,形成了一个更具整合性且动态的族群战争理论。该理论不但整合了既有文献中已经识别的众多因素和机制,而且揭示了先前被隐藏或被忽视的因素、互动和机制,由此指明未来在这些方向的探究将是硕果累累。     

Domestic elites and external actors in post-conflict democratisation: mapping interactions and their impact

Abstract

Following the end of the Cold War, post-conflict democratisation has rarely occurred without a significant international involvement. This contribution argues that an explanation of the outcomes of post-conflict democratisation requires more than an examination of external actors, their mission mandates or their capabilities and deficiencies. In addition, there is a need to study domestic elites, their preferences and motivations, as well as their perceptions of and their reactions to external interference. Moreover, the patterns of external–internal interactions may explain the trajectory of state-building and democracy promotion efforts. These issues deserve more attention from both scholars and practitioners in the fields of peace- and state-building, democracy promotion, regime transition and elite research. Analyses of external actors and domestic elites in post-conflict democratisation should therefore address three principal issues: (1) the identification of relevant domestic elites in externally induced or monitored state-building and democratisation processes, (2) the dynamics of external–domestic interactions and (3) the impact of these interactions on the outcomes of post-conflict democratisation.